High on a Mountainside
by Deltagirl7
Summary: Shore leave on a lush planet gets Christine in some hot water. Old story- new ending!


**DISCLAIMER**: The _Star Trek_ characters are the property of Paramount Studios, Inc. The story contents are the creation and property of Deltagirl7 and is copyright (c) 2001; 2010 by Deltagirl7. Rated PG.

High on a Mountainside

Deltagirl7

The crew members of the Enterprise had been rotating down to the planet's surface for six days. The crew was in desperate need of shore leave and everyone had enjoyed the natural terrain. Here was a class M planet, uninhabited and unclaimed in the farthest sector of the Alpha Quadrant. This one was simply waiting to be explored. Most of the crew played while the planet was surveyed. Then the survey crews took their rotations.

Christine had been on every survey crew and was just finishing her final reports when Dr. McCoy strolled in. "Well, are you just about ready for a break young lady? It's beautiful down there. Kind a' reminds me of home."

"I was hoping to finish this much sooner but I found some cromidium and trisidium in the samples. I wanted to test the purity of them, but then I found traces of dilithium and siroxide in samples from another area. I just couldn't tear myself away."

"You've had quite a successful day, girl. But it's quittin' time. We're out of here in a few hours and you haven't had any time off. Don't you want to get some real fresh air and sunshine?"

"Isn't that what I have been doing?" she asked. "I know, I know what you're going to say – but that's work." Christine briefly wondered what her friends had been doing. So many of them never went on away teams and usually missed all the excitement the Captain, Spock and McCoy usually got into.

When she reached her quarters she quickly changed out of her uniform and into a pair of hiking shorts and a shirt. She pulled on a pair of thick socks and hiking boots and stuffed a few things into a pack: a blanket, towel, water, bottle of wine and some food for later.

The sun was still high when she arrived but she knew it would be dark soon and the planet's twin moons would be rising. There would only be a few hours to relax before the Enterprise left orbit. She was going to enjoy every minute she had.

Christine explored the alpine forest awhile before discovering a waterfall. Delightful! She noticed steam rising from the pool below. There was a sweet smell in the air that reminded her of freesias. An amazing warm waterfall and a hot spring – incredible this high on a mountain, almost heavenly! She pulled out a tricorder and scanned the pond. Clean water, shallow depth, rocks for sitting or sun bathing and a perfect view of the sunset and moon rise. "This looks like the perfect place," she said out loud.

Christine looked around. She listened for voices in the distance. She was completely alone. She quickly pulled off the heavy boots and peeled off the hiking clothes. She spread the blanket and tossed everything onto it. What would her friends think if they knew she was standing here naked in the afternoon sun in front of God and everyone? She imagined Leonard's shocked retort.

She grabbed the towel and dropped it on a large rock on her way across boulders to a flat place under the waterfall. She tested the water before stepping under it. How luxurious it felt splashing over her shoulders. She moved to feel the water on her neck and back. The steam made her flush and stray hairs around her face began to curl into ringlets. She pulled the clips from her hair and tossed them casually to the blanket. They scattered around the pack.

The warm water flowed in an endless stream over her body. It was soothing and stimulating at the same time. She let it flow over her, arching to feel the pulsing on her lower back. It stung her buttocks a bit as it flowed over and between her legs. It was all very sensual and she wished there was someone here sharing it with her. It had been such a long time since she enjoyed such intimate moments with a man.

Somewhere in another sector Spock beamed down to what looked like a wasteland. It reminded him a lot of Vulcan. He planned to gather some herbs and other plants for tea and meditations. He had come to appreciate the fresh sage and cedar of Earth. His tricorder whirred as he explored his surroundings. It wasn't long before he noticed the distinct smell in the air. He followed the aroma over the desert terrain until he came to a plateau. It seemed to stretch for miles ahead of him. Native sage filled the plateau with its blue gray leaves and pungent smell. A gentle wind stirred the flat land and clouds of fragrance traveled in currents to where he stood. He'd soon gathered a pack full of the stuff and had sent it back to the Enterprise.

"Spock to transporter room. One pack to beam up. There is a cedar forest nearby. I have pre-programmed the coordinates. Beam me there now, please. Spock out."

As Spock materialized he found Ensign Chekov strolling through the forest. "Ensign, I believe I overheard you tell Mr. Sulu you had a date today. Did your companion fail to keep her appointment?"

"No, sir, Mr. Spock. Antoinette had an earlier rotation, sir. She has returned to the ship. I have only a little time left myself."

"Well, if you have nothing to do, you may assist me in locating a cypress grove. It is nearby."

Spock saw her first. They trudged out of the dense forest into the clearing where she'd left her pack and blanket. Spock saw the blanket and looked across the pond at the magnificent steaming falls. Beneath the falls, completely out of uniform, stood Dr. Christine Chapel, totally naked.

Under the waterfall she had not heard the voices getting closer. She turned and glanced up just as Spock and Chekov came into the clearing. She froze at seeing them and felt her entire body flush in embarrassment. Her eyes met Spock's and they stood motionless for a moment. She noticed his brow rise. She grinned and gave a little wave. "Very lovely," he thought as he pulled Ensign Chekov around and briskly walked back through the forest. They had gone quite a distance before they finally stopped.

"I haf just seen de beautiful Christine Chapel totally naked! Stark naked. Who would haf thought she was hiding dat body under dat Starfleet uniform!" exclaimed Chekov.

Who indeed? "In the interest of decorum I suggest you keep what you saw to yourself Mr. Chekov," ordered Spock.

Chekov didn't want to but he said it anyway, "Yes, Mr. Spock. No vun vill hear it from me, sir," he lied. He couldn't wait to tell Sulu that Christine Chapel had a body like a Kateran lingerie model.

There was nothing for Spock to do but go back to the ship. What was he going to say to her? Doctor Chapel, I apologize for – I'm sorry for… sorry I saw - you naked? He had intruded on her privacy. He had seen her and he was, physically, not unaffected by it. He attempted to put it out of his mind but the image of her under the steamy current dominated his thoughts. It was the stuff other men's fantasies were made of and it was making him quite uncomfortable. He tried to focus on his work. Again and again, throughout his duty shift his thoughts went back to Christine.

Christine chuckled. Embarrassed or not the look on Spock's face was priceless. But that Chekov, he'd probably blabbed it to everyone by now. At least she had a great body to show off, for that she was grateful. Spock had seemed truly flustered.

She stepped out of the falls and decided to have supper soaking in the hot spring as the sun set. It was truly a magnificent site. The red sun began to dip into the desert below. From this spot on the mountain she could see the entire horizon. Red, pink, orange fingers spiraled the sky like eddies of a whirlpool. She opened the wine and drank from the bottle. Why not? It was only she, though it did seem a little decadent somehow, to drink the whole thing by herself. There wasn't much decadence in this Starfleet doctor's life these days. She enjoyed her supper of peppercorn feta and cracked wheat crackers. She scooped up hunks of the cheese and washed them down with the wine. "Mm, mm, this wine must get better with a little age on it," she thought. She'd bought a case of the stuff on Zerton 3. When she opened the first bottle in the case, it tasted completely different from the wine she'd sampled when she bought it. She knew she'd been taken but kept the wine anyway, just in case she got desperate. But this bottle - well, age had improved it.

The sky darkened quickly and the twin moons began to rise. It was beautiful. "Gosh, there's only one thing that would make the night absolutely perfect," she thought. "Wouldn't it be great if he just couldn't help himself and came back - don't start!" she admonished herself. She was beginning to feel a little light headed and closed her eyes, just for a moment.

_Bleep_. "Enterprise to Christine Chapel."

She jumped. She must have dozed off. Were the moons still in the same spot or were they higher now? It was only for a moment wasn't it? "I must have had more of that wine than I thought." She felt dizzy, as she reached over to answer.

_Bleep_. "Enterprise to Doctor Chapel! Are you there Doctor?"

She fumbled for her communicator. "Yes - uh, Chapel here." Her image appeared on the wide screen. Sulu's mouth fell open. There was Christine Chapel, lounging in water up to her neck, looking very beautiful and seductive, eyes softened and hair curly from the humidity.

"Doctor?" Captain Kirk had never seen Miss Chapel so - relaxed. He'd never noticed how attractive she was before - somehow.

"Hellooo, Captain." Was that her voice? It sounded like it belonged to someone else. "My heartfelt compliments to you on choosing this planet. It's a ver-ry nice place but ver-ry lonely. I could use some company. Oh, well, what _is_ it Captain?" Her voice sounded deeper than usual, a bit sleepy.

"Doctor, you're late. Everyone's on board except you. Uh, we were wondering when we could expect you back " She was so damned attractive today and had she just propositioned him? Maybe that was directed at Spock. He glanced over to check Spock's take on the situation.

"Oh, Jim, I'm having such a lovely time. I didn't know how tired I was. I'm staying in this hot spring until - I don't know - until someone drags me out!"

Spock's brow shot up. She'd called the Captain, "Jim". Even he, the Captain's closest friend, did not call him, "Jim". He eyed the bottle of wine she held. "Doctor," he said, "How much of that wine have you had?" He had never seen her drunk but humans were so unpredictable.

"Why, _Mr. _Spock, it's almost full, see?" She held up the bottle. Indeed it was nearly full.

Chekov and Sulu shot amused glances at each other. Chekov's eyes said _I told you._ Spock glared at them.

"Captain," said Spock, "I am preparing to beam her up now."

"Okay, Spock," she giggled. She giggled! The Doctor does not giggle! "But I wouldn't do that if I were you," she turned her back to the sensor. "You see," she inched up out of the water revealing her naked backside and glanced wickedly over her shoulder, "that would be very embarrassing for you!" she teased. She waited for the Vulcan's reaction. He didn't disappoint - up shot his brow again.

An amused Kirk interrupted, "Uh, Spock, scan that hot spring."

"Captain, minute levels of some type of natural opiate-like compound in the water. It seems to be produced by the blue algae growing in the hot spring. The tricorder would not have flagged such a minute quantity, however, absorbed by the human body over several hours – she might have absorbed enough to become quite intoxicated."

He shot a warning look at Checkov and Sulu, who were trying very hard not to explode with laughter.

"I shall retrieve the Doctor," Spock said, "And Miss Uhura, cut that com signal." Sulu and Chekov burst into laughter. Captain Kirk gave them a warning glance but couldn't restrain his own amusement. McCoy would have given a month's credits to see this!

Moments later Spock beamed down to the surface.

"Spock!" Her voice was unusually resonant. "That Captain Kirk _is_ good!" she exclaimed.

"Doctor, please come out of the pool."

"Oh no, Commander! This feels sooo relaxing. I'm staying right here and you can't make me come out." She gave him a seductive look. "You could take off your clothes and get in with me." Her voice had a low resonance, a persuasive quality she had never used on him before.

"Suck air. Think of plasma injectors," he told himself. "I can not do that, Doctor. The water is laced with opiates. I can not come in after you. You must leave the pool - now."

"What? Spock, are you saying I'm – I'm drugged? Ah, so this is what it feels like. I do feel dizzy, disconnected, float-y, not too bad, but I do feel pretty horn- um, relaxed."

"Yes, well, Christine, please come out," he pleaded. "Take my hand, I will steady you." He held his hand out to her.

"God, his eyes are sooo beautiful," she thought. "All right, I'll come out." she reluctantly agreed.

"Here is a blanket. Please wrap it around yourself."

"Turn around," she said. He averted his eyes and busied himself packing her things. Her voice was deeper than he'd ever heard it. That had a stimulating appeal to him. He had never thought of her in that way before. He directed himself to think of his list of duties for the evening - anything except the naked woman splashing behind him. She climbed out of the pool and stumbled. He started to turn to help her but decided against it, then silence.

"Doctor? Christine?" Humans! He turned and she was gone. "Doctor, where are you?"

The twin moons were now high in the sky. They lit up the whole side of the mountain. _She should not be too hard to find._ He checked his scanner. A giggle. "Doctor, please, we must return to the ship immediately!" A flash of white blanket. "Doctor, that is an order. Doctor, running in the darkness is quite dangerous. One of us could be injured." He caught another glimpse of the blanket fluttering in the night air.

She was standing at the edge of the mountainside, arms spread overhead, the blanket flying in the wind above her. She was incredibly beautiful standing there naked, the luminous moonlight reflecting off her wet skin, hair gently blowing behind her. She turned to look at him, smiling. She seemed to look into his soul. Her eyes sparkled - how had he ever missed those eyes? It was as if he had never really seen them before.

"Spock, haven't you ever wanted to just let yourself go and howl at the moon?"

"Yes, Christine, many times." _She is howling!_ Something primal within him stirred.

Suddenly she swayed. He rushed to her, pulling her from the edge. He grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around her. He circled his arms around her, not daring to loosen them and moved them back from the edge. He braced against the maelstrom of her state of mind. Her thoughts raced. She was clearly and completely out of control. He tried to steady her.

She clutched him, trembling. "Spock?" Suddenly she was confused. Was she dreaming? How could he be here? And where was here?

She raised her face and kissed her dream. "Doctor! Christine!" _She is not responsible - I cannot-_

But he did not want to stop her. He wanted to kiss her. He wanted to make love to her right there on the mountain. Her arms slipped around his neck and she pulled him closer. He did not intend to take advantage of her. Some very human part of him wanted her. He did not intend to kiss her and yet, he did, passionately. She felt soft and inviting in his arms. He wanted so much more than a kiss.

Finally, reluctantly, he pulled away. "We must go," he whispered. "They are waiting for us." He signaled and they shimmered away into the moonlight.

The following evening Spock's troubled meditation was interrupted by the chime at the door. Christine noticed his robe. "I'm sorry, Mr. Spock, I hope I'm not disturbing you. May I come in for a moment?"

"Of course, Doctor. I was just finishing my meditations. Won't you sit down?"

"Mr. Spock, I wanted to thank you for coming after me yesterday. I understand I made quite a spectacle of myself. I seem to have some significant memory lapses. I don't remember much of what happened. I hope I didn't embarrass you as much as I embarrassed myself?"

He had not considered that her memory might be impaired by the narcotic. "Doctor, as you seem to now be aware of the circumstances, I assure you I was not embarrassed. I trust you are feeling better?"

She looked closely at him for a moment giving him every opportunity. "Yes, Mr. Spock," she said quietly. "I'm just about over it. Well, I just wanted to thank you." She stopped before going out the door. She searched his eyes for something else but they told her nothing. "Well, that was all, goodbye then."

"Good night, Doctor."

Christine left Spock's quarters and started back down the corridor to her own. She moved slowly disbelieving that Spock could behave as if nothing had happened and after all these years. Tears began to form and threatened to spill over. She would just go home and have a good cry and in the morning everything would be as it had been- almost. No- she was not going to cry. She headed for an out-of-the-way observation deck where she liked to meditate. Perhaps some deep breathing would help ease the pain she felt. Arriving at the darkened room she dropped into a chair and stared out into night. It was always night here and she missed the blue skies of Earth; the dawns and the dusks.

Of course she remembered everything about that night. She remembered being stark naked and flashing him, teasing him as if he were her lover. Soaking in the pool she'd dreamed of him there holding her, about to kiss her when her com beeped. She'd actually enjoyed flashing the bridge – at the time. Now she was only embarrassed. The whole ship knew about the bridge incident. They were all teasing her about it, good-naturedly of course. If it had been anyone else she would have teased too. But it wasn't. She feigned amnesia and blamed it all on the extended soak in the opium hot tub. That was partly true anyway. At least Leonard had been gentle and understanding and dried her out without comment, which was rare for him.

Spock was way too decent to talk about what happened after he beamed down. Why hadn't she just pulled him into the pool with her? Wouldn't that have been something? Well, it was already something, all right. Sure, she had been pretty high, but there was no mistaking the passion behind that kiss. He'd wanted her all right, badly. That wasn't her imagination. She hadn't misinterpreted anything that happened, she was just, well, drunk, or rather, drugged. Stoned by algae in a hot spring! She remembered correctly; her mind hadn't made anything up. Her inhibitions were gone, that's all. She had not hallucinated him kissing her or the hardness of his body as she pressed against him. She could still feel his hands as they slid over her bare skin holding her to him. It had seemed like the most natural thing to do, kissing him.

She couldn't prevent the tears from spilling down her cheeks. She wanted to keep reliving the memory of it until every nano-second was etched into her mind forever. Those lips, his lips, were so incredibly warm, soft and searching. His mouth, eager for her, parted and his tongue flicked to hers tasting her and hesitated, as if making a decision. For a second, yes, she was sure, for a moment he possessed her the way she had dreamed it might be and there was something else. Maybe this part was a hallucination but she thought she heard him whisper, "Oh, Christine, you have no idea how I want you." But how could he have spoken when his lips were firmly pressed to hers?

When he pulled away at last from her she felt as if some part of her had been lost. He'd looked into her eyes, as if he, himself were trying to remember for all time. If he wanted her like this why didn't he have the courage to tell her or show her – something!

Christine sniffed and dried her face. Why had she let him snivel out of this? He lied to her and acted as if nothing had happened. He'd kissed her back. His hands had moved beneath the blanket and explored her body. Spock had gathered her into his arms and touched her almost as intimately as if they had made love. He'd enjoyed it, hadn't he? And now he pretended nothing had happened.

Christine headed back to Spock's quarters.

He opened the door immediately. He hadn't been asleep, he'd been meditating once again on how to handle the situation, her. After she'd left, for the first time in his life, he'd felt guilt. Why hadn't he just told her? Now she was back to confront him.

She burst past him. "How could you just let me walk out like that Spock?" she demanded.

"It occurred to me you would feel discomfort discussing what happened. I chose to 'forget it'. It was the logical thing to do," he answered.

"Spock, I remember everything that happened. I gave you the chance to say something but you didn't. You're a mystery to me and I'm more confused about your behavior every day. You say you're not interested in me, yet you touched me, kissed me. I don't know what you want from me!" She stopped a moment to take a breath but tears had started to form and she worked to control them. She felt angry and impatient. This had to be resolved now.

"Why can't you just be honest with me and yourself? How did I feel under your touch? Was my skin soft? Was my breast warm? Did you dream of me? Did you like it?"

"Yes, very much." He said.

"Why can't you just admit that without all this other stuff? Is it logical to keep pulling me psychically and pushing me away physically?"

"Have I done that?"

"What!" Exasperated, Christine began to unbutton her dress. "Spock, was it just curiosity? Is that it, were you just curious?" Christine let the dress fall from her shoulders and drop to the floor. "If that's what this is about then take a good look." She stood there naked and waited for him to say or do something.

Spock slowing stepped over to her, loosened his sash and allowed his own robe to fall to the floor. "I, too, am naked before you Christine. I am unsure of how to proceed. I did not want to hurt you. I found kissing you pleasurable. I wanted more that night, it's true, but I could not, at least not with you that way. It would have dishonored us both. I lead a comfortable Vulcan life, the life I wanted. You will certainly complicate it, but I find myself with a hunger for you. Perhaps you've aroused my human half for I cannot keep you out of my thoughts and very much want you in my bed. Must I howl at the moon to convince you of it?"

"No, Spock, there's no need to howl, but kissing is good, very good."

THE END


End file.
